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Tennessee football: Vols 10 best seasons coming off a losing record

By Caleb Calhoun

1990: Roland Poles of the Tennessee Volunteers in action during a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31-27. Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite /Allsport
1990: Roland Poles of the Tennessee Volunteers in action during a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31-27. Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite /Allsport /
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8. 1955

6-3-1 (3-2-1)

1954 record: 4-6 (1-5)

After three separate stints of unprecedented success, Robert Neyland stepped down for good at the end of the 1952 season. However, Tennessee football was having trouble maintaining what he had built, unlike what they did under John Barnhill in the 1940s when Neyland was called to service.

Harvey Robinson had gone 6-4-1 in 1953 but fell to 4-6 in 1954, losing his last four games. So Neyland, then athletic director, had to fire the coach who helped as his assistant turn the program into a national powerhouse in the early 1950s.

Neyland then brought in Bowden Wyatt, a UT graduate who played on the undefeated 1938 team and had success with the Wyoming Cowboys and Arkansas Razorbacks. Wyatt was able to show immediate improvement in this season.

After an 0-2 start, losing to the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils, the Vols got on a roll. They beat the Chattanooga Mocs, Alabama Crimson Tide, Dayton Flyers and North Carolina Tar Heels. Then, to prove their worth, they tied the No. 8 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and shutout the Florida Gators on the road.

All of a sudden, this team was 5-2-1. They did lose to the Kentucky Wildcats, but a win over the No. 19 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores allowed them to finish 6-3-1. It was a great turnaround and set the stage for Wyatt’s legendary 1956 team, led by Johnny Majors, that went 10-0 in the regular season and won the SEC.

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